Publishing: Publishing Houses
‘The Big Five’ Publishing Houses: Books
Owners and Editors of Leading publishers of fiction and non-fiction books
The "Big 5" is a nickname for the five powerhouses in trade publishing [Penguin Random House. Hachette Livre. HarperCollins. Macmillan Publishers. Simon & Schuster.]
‘The Big Five’ Book Publishers
According to Reedsy, the Big 5 book publishers are: Penguin Random House (New York, $3.3 bn revenue, 15,000 titles a year), Hachette Livre (US HQ Hachette Book Group in NYC, $2.7 bn revenue, 20,000 titles a year), Harper Collins ($1.5 bn revenue, 120 separate imprints), Macmillan Publishers (London & NYC, $1.4bn revenue), Simon & Schuster (New York, $830 million revenue, 2000 titles)
Penguin Random House (parent company Bertelsmann) plans to acquire its competitor Simon & Schuster, which S&S’s owner ViacomCBS put on offer for around $200 million.
The US Department of Justice, the U.S. District Court for D.C. has brought an anti-trust challenge against the proposed merger, with litigation to begin in mid-2022.
‘The Big Five’ Publishing Houses
| Publisher | CEO | Corporate Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Penguin Random House U.S. | Madeline McIntosh |
Bertelsmann/Germany |
| Hachette Book Group/U.S. | Michael Pietsch |
Machette Livre/France |
| Harper Collins | Brian Murray |
News Corp |
| Macmillan Publishers | Don Weisberg |
Holzbrinck Publishing Group/Germany |
| Simon & Schuster | Jonathan Karp |
Paramount Global/ViacomCBS/National Amusements |
Female CEOs of ‘The Big Five’ Publishing Houses:
1 out of 5 = 20%
What will it take for women to get into the Power Percentage among Book Publishers?